The American men’s problems in the Olympic sprints continued in the 400-meter final Thursday night when Team USA failed to make the medal podium for the second time in three Games.

Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, the reigning world champion, added the Olympic title to his résumé, finishing in 43.85. Behind him, Colombia’s Anthony Jose Zambrano (44.08) and Kirani James (44.19) claimed the silver and bronze medals.

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Michael Cherry was the top U.S. finisher at fourth in 44.21. Olympic Trials winner Michael Norman, the former USC NCAA champion, faded to fifth in 44.31 after leading for the first 260 meters.

Team USA’s much-ballyhooed re-emergence as the preeminent global sprint superpower in the post-Bolt era never materialized in Tokyo. Instead, the U.S. men for the first time failed to win a gold medal in the five shortest races – the 100, 200, 400, 110 high hurdles, and 400 hurdles – at an Olympic Games.

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“I am not sure,” Cherry said. “We haven’t been here that long, we got here on short notice. Every other team had training camp, but that’s no excuse. We are still expected to come out here and execute how we are supposed to, it’s just not happening right now.”

Norman walked through the post-race mix zone Thursday night but did not stop to speak to reporters.

Vanguard News Nigeria